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I got out (a few of) my kites tonight to make an order from Steve. I wanted to make sure I had some spare parts, and I had to measure end caps and the like. I got to looking at my Quantum, and I noticed that there was some slack in the spine/sail between the nose and the center T. I looked at the spine, and the center T had apparently slid up, evidenced by scrapes on the spine below its present location. I guess that dissipator worked, but I have no idea when! Who knows how long I've had the T an inch or two too high?

I slid it back down until the sail was about as taut as I figured it should be (the cutout is fairly small, thankfully, so I was able to get a good estimate of where the T should be), and now the dissipator was rather loose. As a result, the sail below the center T was quite loose, too, since the dissipator is the only thing tensioning that point. I actually have a replacement dissipator with the instructions, and they showed a square knot with very little cord to spare. (It was sold to me new with an overhand knot, which is apparently wrong.) However, to put any kind of tension there, I had to tie the knot further up, with an inch or two hanging off each side. Maybe the cord got stretched out?

A quick Google search shows some results for loose center Ts, most certainly a result of the dissipator design, but if it saves the kite.... Anyway, I'm wondering how tight I need the sail both above and below the T along the spine. I assume any slack in the sail is bad. Also, if I need to glue that center T back in place. I'll have to keep a better eye on it.

The spine sliding back through the T as the nose hits the ground then slides back up freely after the hit, My quantum is new but I took it out of the bag and plucked the bungee on each side and it does have enough tightness to carry a nice tone/note. The T should always be where it goes through the kite automatically and the spine slides freely through it, without much friction. It sounds like your spine isn't sliding freely through the T like it should be. And the T goes through a small reinforced hole in the kite about the same diameter as the T's diameter. Bungee goes between the t and the spine, back to the dissapator then up to the reinforced loop area. Maybe you're not going up to the loop area where the knot will finally be tucked under. And it will pull the sail closer the the spine, no more slack!

Scratches on the spine from the T, and not sliding freely? I'm guessing you got a bit of sand or dirt in there. Try to work it free by twisting it and sliding it up and down, maybe some compressed air if you have access to it.

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Ah. I didn't know the T was supposed to move freely! See, this was my first kite. I didn't learn too much about it at the time. I fly it mostly at the beach, so yes, sand sounds very likely. I'll give it a cleaning tonight and see if that frees it up.

I actually disassembled the spine from the center T (not very difficult, only takes a few seconds) and didn't see anything in the hole. Granted, a few pieces of sand could have fallen out without me noticing. It seems to move more freely now, but still scrapes a little. Under tension, it's a little worse. I'm guessing that's because the tension is applied a little off center. Still, it's improved, and the scraping isn't terrible. This part isn't supposed to move unless I lawn dart, so I suppose I can live with a very gradual sanding down of the spine. And I've got a pre-cut back up in my bag, if it ever actually breaks, though it looks like it would take years of wear to thin the spine appreciably. (Back when this was my only kite, I bought a full replacement frame so I'd always be prepared, especially since I did most of my flying at week-long beach vacations. Didn't want to go the rest of the week without a kite over a broken spar. And I haven't broken any spars on it yet.)

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